Use of portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones, is ubiquitous. These portable electronic devices are often used as replacements for bulkier desktop computers, which take up more space, use more electricity, and are generally not portable. Because these electronic devices are often substitutes for desktop computers, users often place these electronic devices on stands to more closely mimic the use of a desktop computer in a more comfortable office or home environment. Such stands enhance the experience of using portable electronic devices by raising the keyboard and screen of the devices to more comfortable and practical levels (e.g., raising the screen to eye level and/or raising the keyboard to a level and/or angle that avoids repetitive stress injuries such as carpal-tunnel syndrome).
Conventional electronic device stands, however, are often bulky and large such that they lack the portability of the portable electronic devices they support, thus restricting their practical use to the locations where they are stored. Accordingly, the portable electronic device user will often not be able to use such conventional stands when working away from an office or home.
Further, portable electronic devices, like laptop computers, include processing units that control the operations of these electronic devices. Such processing units, however, generate a substantial amount of heat, particularly as technology advances and processors become increasingly powerful. Most desktop computers use fans, heat sinks, and exposure to air to dissipate the heat generated by the processor. However, in portable electronic devices such as a laptop computer, there is very little room for fans or open airspace, so heat is transferred through the underside of the computer. Unfortunately, conventional electronic device stands, because they provide a contiguous, flat surface on which the electronic device stands rest, restrict cooling of the underside of the electronic device by blocking access to circulating air.
What is, therefore, needed are effective electronic device stands that are portable and allow cooling, and that avoid the pitfalls of conventional designs.